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. 2020 Mar;51(3):780-790.
doi: 10.1002/jmri.26898. Epub 2019 Aug 12.

In vivo evaluation of human patellar tendon microstructure and microcirculation with diffusion MRI

Kenneth Wengler  1 , Takeshi Fukuda  2 , Dharmesh Tank  2 , David E Komatsu  3 , Megan Paulus  3 , Mingqian Huang  2 , Elaine S Gould  2 , Mark E Schweitzer  2 , Xiang He  2
Affiliations

In vivo evaluation of human patellar tendon microstructure and microcirculation with diffusion MRI

Kenneth Wengler et al. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Patellar tendon (PT) microstructure integrity and microcirculation status play a crucial role in the progression of tendinopathy and tendon repair.

Purpose: To assess the feasibility and robustness of stimulated-echo based diffusion-weighted MRI with readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (ste-RS-EPI) for noninvasive assessment of microstructure and microcirculation of human PT.

Study type: Prospective.

Subjects: Fifteen healthy volunteers.

Field strength/sequence: PT diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) were acquired with an ste-RS-EPI protocol on a 3T MRI scanner.

Assessment: Subjects were positioned with their PT at the magic angle. DTI-derived parameters including axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD), mean diffusivity (MD), and fractional anisotropy (FA) were estimated with b-values of 0 and 800 s/mm2 and 12 diffusion directions. IVIM-derived parameters, f p , D* × f p , V b , and D* × V b were assessed in the central-third and the outer-two thirds of the PT with b-values of 0, 20, 30, 60, 80, 120, 200, 400, and 600 s/mm2 in three orthogonal directions.

Statistical tests: Paired t-tests were used to evaluate differences in IVIM parameters between the central-third and outer-two thirds regions of the patellar tendon. Paired t-tests and within-subject coefficient of variation were used to assess the intra- and intersession reproducibility of PT DTI and IVIM parameters.

Results: DTI parameters for healthy PT were 1.54 ± 0.09 × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.01 ± 0.05 × 10-3 mm2 /s, 1.18 ± 0.06 × 10-3 mm2 /s, and 0.30 ± 0.04 for AD, RD, MD, and FA, respectively. Significantly higher (P < 0.05) IVIM parameters f p and D* × f p were observed in the outer-two thirds (6.1% ± 2.4% and 95.2 ± 49.6, respectively) compared with the central-third (3.8% ± 2.3% and 48.6 ± 35.2, respectively) of the PT.

Data conclusion: Diffusion MRI of PT with an ste-RS-EPI protocol is clinically feasible. Both DTI- and IVIM-derived parameters of the PT demonstrated good test-retest reproducibility and interrater reliability.

Level of evidence: 2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:780-790.

Keywords: DTI; IVIM; microcirculation; microstructure; patellar tendon.

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